The present invention relates generally to household products, and more particularly to humidifiers.
To maintain a comfortable interior environment, humidity levels should typically be kept in a range from 30 to 50 percent in the winter and 40 to 50 percent in the summer. Lower levels of water vapor in the air can dry out and irritate skin, and higher levels may feel damp and can encourage mold and mildew, both of which can cause allergies and damage to a house.
For parts of the country where air is dry, humidifiers are often used to add water vapor into a home""s air to increase the humidity of the house. Humidifiers are available, for example, as tabletop units, consoles, or units connected to central heating and cooling systems.
Contemporary tabletop humidifiers are designed to provide moisture for one room, while console or central humidifiers are configured to serve multiple rooms or a whole house. Tabletop and console models are relatively inexpensive, easy to connect and use, and are portable.
There are a number of different methods that humidifiers use to provide humidity. In general, however, the console and tabletop models provide moist air to a room by atomizing or evaporating water. For the console and tabletop models, the water is typically supplied by a tank that is part of the base for the humidifier, or that is attached to the base of the humidifier.
One type of humidifier is an ultrasonic humidifier. Such humidifiers apply ultrasonic energy to a water supply to atomize the water. The atomized water and water vapor is exhausted from the humidifier as a fog or mist using a fan, and the fog or mist evaporates into the surrounding air. Such humidifiers often include a switch or detector that shuts down the operation of the humidifier when the water is drained from the water tank.
Another type of humidifier blows dry air over a wet evaporator pad or pads. The pads are kept wet by having a portion of the pads submerged in the water tank, or are otherwise kept wet by water in the tank. In another model, an evaporator belt is used instead of the evaporator pad. Both of these models typically do not include an indicator or shutoff mechanism that operates when the tank is drained. Instead, the humidifiers typically continue to operate when the tank has been drained.
Although present humidifiers work well for their intended purpose, often it is difficult to determine when a water tank for one of the devices is out of water, or when it is approximately out of water. The inside of the tanks for the humidifiers may be hard to see, or the humidifier may be located somewhere, such as a dark corner, where inspection of the water level of the tank is difficult. Thus, for these reasons, the tanks for the humidifiers are often run dry, which of course eliminates the ability of the devices to produce humidity.
The present invention provides a humidifier having a lighted water tank. During operation of the humidifier, a lamp illuminates the tank so that the water level of the tank is visible from across the room. The illuminated tank may also serve as a night light.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the humidifier includes a lamp that is mounted in the base. A water tank is mounted over the base and includes a translucent round bubble lens that fits over the lamp. The lamp illuminates the inside of the tank through the lens. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the lens is faceted so that light from the lamp is spread throughout the water tank. In addition, the lens is shaped so that the lamp extends at least partly into the tank. This feature further increases illumination of the tank.
The humidifier may be a mist variety, steam, or various other models that use a tank. If desired, two separate styles of operation may be provided, one in which the light is illuminated, and the other in which it is not.
Other advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which: